Friday 14 November 2014

The Postman Always Rings Twice, by James M Cain

4.5 stars

Having already seen the Jack Nicholson/Jessica Lange movie, I knew before starting that The Postman Always Rings Twice wasn't about a particularly determined postie (mine doesn't even bother to ring once, judging by the amount of collection cards I get through my door). The film was OK, but it turns out that this tautly written noir is fantastic, accomplishing a lot in surprisingly few pages. 

A drifter shows up at the roadside diner of Nick Papadakis and is offered a job. Initially reluctant, he changes his mind the moment he sees Nick's hot wife and they're soon bumping uglies whenever Nick's away while fermenting a plot to see him gone for good...


A brilliant tale of horrible people doing horrible things, I'm now looking forward to reading more James M. Cain.



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